Head Coach Richard Hill admitted the 15-9 defeat to Exeter Chiefs had been a fair reflection of a tightly fought contest in Devon – but praised his Warriors for the spirit shown as they secured a deserved losing bonus point.
Home fly half Ignacio Meries kicked all the points for the Chiefs as they claimed league victory at Sandy Park.
However, Worcester were rewarded for their endeavour as a penalty from Andy Goode with three minutes left saw Hill’s men take a point.
He said: “It was a good old-fashioned game of rugby, with both sides having a good go at each other. It wasn't high-scoring, but a huge amount of effort went in from both teams.
“Exeter looked very powerful and have a well-organised pack of forwards, but they actually played a different game to what we have seen from them in recent weeks.
“They'd obviously read that we were going to try and defend against their pick-and-go and driving play, but they actually put a lot more width on it.
“They ran a huge amount of ball in the middle third – they didn't get very far, but it meant we had to do a hell of a lot of tackling.
“From the sidelines, I was convinced they were trying to keep the ball alive as much as possible and keep us making tackles because we haven't got the strength-in-depth we'd normally have on the bench because of the injuries we have.
“Credit to our players, the energy didn't run out and they kept going right until the end – in fact, we looked a bit more dangerous than they did in the last 10 minutes or so and Exeter were very glad to get the ball off the field at the end. I was pretty glad too, though, so we could take the bonus point.
“It was a fair reflection – they deserved to win and we deserved to take a bonus point.”
Hill also reflected on a clear cut first half chance as Alex Grove nearly sent Marcel Garvey away to score as the wing juggled a pass before just failing to bring it under control.
“Both sides had one clear cut chance and we had one with Marcel that we should have scored, but he unfortunately couldn’t hold onto the ball,” added Hill.
“It was such an even game and it could have gone either way. From talking to the Exeter coaches, they said there was nothing in it. Both defences were firm and we saw a huge amount of effort.
“I thought Bruce Douglas was very good,” he added. “It’s not a position he is used to on the left hand side of the scrum, but our scrum was solid and our set piece was good with Craig Gillies dominant and good throwing from Ed Shervington.”